NORTHEASTERN FOREST EXPERIMENT STATION 

Upper Darby , Pennsylvania 

No. 77 

CHAFF SEEDING DOES NOT INHIBIT 

TREE REPRODUCTION 

Seeding of grass and other herbaceous cover is a recognized method of reducing soil washing on old loggingroads, 

trails, decks, and other disturbed areas. It is done to protect the quality of water supplies and, in the case of roads 

that are to be used again, to preserve them for use during 

the next logging operation. The successful use of chaff 

(from local harvest operations) to do this on the Fernow Experimental Forest near Parsons, W. Va. has been reportede1 

A question has been raised by foresters and landowners who wish to stabilize the soil on disturbed areas 

where no further disturbance is anticipated. The question 

posed is this: 

Can such areas be reseeded to herbaceous cover for 

quick soil stabilization without seriously retarding natural tree reproduction? 

Such areas may be skid trails, poorly located logging roads 

and decks, and even strip-mined areas. Here the immediate 

aim may be quicker soil stabilization than can be obtained 

from either planted trees or natural reproduction, but the 

long-time aim is to obtain forest growth. 

An answer to the question as it pertains to chaffseeding on logging roads was obtained by examination of the 

experimental plots involved in the 1953 chaff-seeding on the 

l~rimble, G. R., Jr. and Weitzman, Sidney. Chaff 

Seeding--One Answer to Soil Washing on Logging Roads. W. Va. 

Conserv. 19 (12): 12-13, illus. 1956. 
Table 1.--Cover, includinn tree seedlings, on logging roads after 5 rowing seasons 

*Seedlings 6 inches and taller* 

**Average based on plots that contained seedlings. 

Fernow Experimental Forest. Examination was made after 5 

growing seasons. 

Most 

numerous 

species 

Three series of plots, each representing a different 

treatmect 5 years ago, were examined: (1) Ten plots on which 

chaff had been scattered at a rate of 28 bushels per acre, 

accompanied by liming at the rate of 1 ton per acre and 

fertilization (5-10-5) at the rate of 400 pounds per acre; 

(2) ten plots on which chaff had been scattered without lime 

and fertilizer; and (3) five plots that had no treatment-- 

the bare logging road was left to revegetate naturally. The 

results are shown in table 1. 

52- EEEEEk cover - No. - Feet EO - Percent 

Char f seeded ; Sugar maple 78 

lime & fertilizer 10 8 6 6.3 1.0 1 White ash 17 

applied Yellow-poplar 5 

Sugar maple 67 

Chaff seeded 10 82 o 9 White ash 15 400 Yellow-poplar 15 

Pin cherry 3 

Sugar maple 37 

Untreated 5 7 6 202 1.0 3 , Yellow-poplar 37 White ash 26 

Plots 

without 

seedlings 

These results indicate that the plant cover that develops after chaff-seeding on compacted areas does not hinder establishment of tree reproduction. The cover obtained-- 

usually a mixture of broadleaf weeds with cereal and weedy 

grasses--does not for= a continuous sod and therefore does 

not inhibit tree reproduction as dense tight sods of perennial grasses have been observed to do. However, the cover 

from the chaff-seeding does stabilize the soil surface; and 

by providing some small amount of mulch and shade it may 

also improve conditions for establishment of hardwood seed1 ings . 

Average** 

height of 

seedlings 

Mr. Trimble is forest officer in charge of the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station's Mountain State Research 

Center at Elkins, West Virginia. 

Seedlings* 

per plot 

(32 sq~ft.) 

Treatment 

2 AGRICULTURE-FOREST SERVICE-UPPER DARBY 

Plots 

Total 

vegetation 

density